Pizza Dough, Sauce

After a recent viewing of America's Test Kitchen, I tried upping the water content in the pizza dough I make. And it turned out so well! The dough was chewy and airy, bubble-filled and resilient. It was the best pizza dough I've ever made. Here's what I did:

2 cups warm water
4 teaspoons yeast
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more

Stir the yeast into the water and let sit for about five minutes. Meanwhile, combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor or a mixer bowl. Process/whisk to combine, then with the mixer or processor running, pour in 3 tablespoons of the olive oil. If using a mixer, switch to the dough hook at this point and slowly pour in the yeast solution. Knead in the mixer/processor for a few minutes.

Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl. The dough will be extremely sticky, so, to help this along, you might want to oil your hands as well. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm, non-drafty place for at least an hour.

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees F at least half and hour before you wish to bake.

Once risen, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and work it into some kind of pizza shape. My pizzas were decidedly non-circular. The dough's a bit hard to work with because of the water content, but it's totally worth it. Next time, I'll try to be more patient and make the dough a bit thinner. Top as you wish, perhaps beginning with this pizza sauce:

1/2 onion, minced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon dry basil
2, 14 ounce cans tomato sauce*
1 teaspoon sugar

Over medium heat, saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil until the onions soften. Stir in the basil, tomato sauce, and sugar. Cook for about 30 minutes or until reduced by about half.

* A super basic tomato sauce that comes in cans at the grocery store. It's made of pureed tomatoes and maybe some sea salt. This is not pasta sauce.